Urban Flooding – River Forest, Illinois

Some very interesting facts are listed in the 2014 research paper “The Prevalence and Cost of Urban Flooding – A Case Study of Cook County, IL”, which was prepared by The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), an innovations laboratory for urban sustainability. This study attempted to collectively analyze flood damage claims and sewer and backup claims from several providers of insurance and other financial assistance groups. It looked at claims paid out between 2007-2011.

Some of the key points of this analysis were:

Urban flooding in Cook County is chronic and systemic, resulting in damage that is widespread, repetitive and costly.

Over 181,000 claims were made across 97 percent of Cook County.

There are multiple social and economic impacts on residential property owners, including stress, ill health, loss of use of property, loss of valuables and hours of work time to clean up.